I should manifeft my feelings and difcharge my duty towards his Royal Highnefs. I am not to be told, that unless the offer, which has done him the higheft honour, thall be treated in a manner fatisfactory to my honourable Friend and me, I fhall decline to fupport his Majefty's Government on this trying occafion. Of my refpect and regard for his Royal Highness as a Prince, and as a man, I should think my honourable Friend himfelt is fully aware. It is not neceffary for me to make any parade or profeflion of my zealous withes for his intereft or character. it is justly due to that character, to state that which must conftitute its highest praife, that he has offered, in the noblest manner, to iland forward for the na iou's defence; and I am fully perfuaded that that offer was not lefs graciously received by the perfons to whom it was made, than it is felt with gratitude by the country at farge. I am, however, confident, that whatever might have been the effect of that offer, his Royal Highness would not be friendly to any obfervations calculated to excite public difcontent, or to difturb public unanimity; on the contrary, I am fully perfuaded, that, according to the fentiment of his dignified friend, Lord Moira, his Royal Highness would rather enter as a private in the ranks of his armed Countrymen, than countenance any difcuffion which could tend to divide the feelings of the people. With respect to the remarks of the honourable Officer, upon the manner in which military lectures are received in this Houfe, I muft. fet the honourable Gentleman right, if he all..ded to me [ beg him to understand that I never did fay that this House was not a proper place for military men to ftate their opinions; but I did fay this, that as a Member of Parliament I would not abandon my opinion in compliment to the affertions of military authority, for which, generally fpeaking, I profefs not to entertain a very profound refpect, at leaft fo far as it is difplayed in this Houfe; and indeed it would be rather furprising, if from the manner purfued fuch authority thould be much refpected. I can collect no information from it. One Officer rifes and lays down a certain plan, another proposes one of quite a different nature, but neither follows up his ideas. There is a kind of confufion and irregularity in their movements. They do not march clofe upon each other with the lock step, but they run about and feramble in fuch a way as to be fcarcely intelligible, and when intelligible. of very little ufe, and not at all tending to elucidate the fubject, or to enlighten the House. The honourable Officer to 5 N whom

VOL. IV. 1802-3.

whom I refer tells, to be fure, fome military anecdotes. with which any man that has read fome very well known books cannot be unacquainted; and another honourable Officer at times entertains us in the fame way. But of what value to the Houfe is the repetition of those matters of fact? If thefe gallant Officers can tell us nothing more than what can be feen in Plutarch's Lives, Cæfar's Commentaries, or Vauban, or how fuch a divifion moved at Malplaquet or Blenheim, they can render very little fervice to the country. Indeed, for the credit of thefe Officers themselves, I deprecate fuch difcuffions, and would advise them to abstain from such statements. But, as to the motion before the Houfe, the honourable Colonel afks why thank the volunteers for merely doing their duty? His new acquaintance and right hon. Friend below him ought, however, to be the last to oppofe a motion of thanks to them for doing their duty; he who has been fo long and fo loudly lamenting the bafe fpirit which, according to his defcription, exilted in the country, in confequence of the treaty of Amiens and the character of the prefent Minifters. If the right hon Gentleman did really with to remove that lowness of mind which he fo often deplored, his language this night was strange indeed; but if he regretted to find his opinion mistaken, it is of courfe quite confiftent to sefilt the expreflion of our gratitude to the band of patriots who have broken through that flumber of apathy, and fhook of that thade, off defpondency which he has fo frequently pictured to the Houfe, but which in reality never exifted The honourable Colonel has defcribed the motives which ought to actuate the people of this country to take up arms at prefent, and he contends that their having obeyed thefe motives, namely, the defence of their own families and the call of public duty, does not entitle them to the gratitude of Parliament. I regret that the honourable Colonel has in the course of his obfervations entered into any contraft between the volunteers and any other defcription of the public force. Such comparifons are invidious at any time, and particularly imprudent at prefent; I can fee no good purpose that it can answer. Although the wifdom of the honourable Colonel's right honourable Friend (Mr. W.) has given the fan&tion of his authority to the practice, I did flatter myself that in the obfervations with which I prefaced this motion I had abítained from every topic that was likely to provoke deba e or diffenfion, and that was my wish. I declined to fay one word as to the con

duct

duct of Ministers, because I knew, from the experience of a former evening, that any thing from me in commendation of Minifters would be a pretext to the sight honourable Gentleman to fall foul of them. Recurring to the comparif n of the honorable Colonel between the volunteers and the regulars, I cannot help faying that he has not taken a courfe very likely to reflect honour on his favourite force. The honourable Colonel has admitted that the volunteers have dose their duty, but that they are not on that account entitled to the propofed vote, while the diftinguished fervices of the regular army are overlooked. In proof of their fervices, however, the honourable Colonel ftates this, that at the time of the mutiny in the fleet, the jacobins fent circular letters to the feveral regiments of the a my, inviting them to mutiny, which invitations they refufed to comply with. Then the honourable Gentleman's argument stands thus, that we thould refufe our thanks to the volunteers, whofe merit is that they have done their duty, but that we fhould grant this honour to the regular army, whose merit is, according to his statement, that they rejected a propofition to mutiny; that they declined to violate their oaths-to abandon every fenfe of duty and honour. Such is the fubftance of the panegyric which this regular Colonel has pronounced upon the regular army. If he can fay nothing more in their favour, I think the army would be much obliged to him to withhold his praife. The honourable Colonel has, in his compliments to his right honourable Friend, thought proper to fay that it would be for my intereft to preferve my hands as clean from the imputation of unworthy motives in my oppofition to Minifters as his right honourable Friend has done and continues to do. If the honourable Colonel has been acquainted with the views and proceedings of the old Oppofition, he would have declined that remark: but I will refer him for information upon this point to his right honourable Fiend, and I would call with confidence upon that right honourable Gentleman myself to flate the courfe which the old Oppofition took when he acted with them. Were not the grounds upon which they refted their conduct materially different from thofe upon which he and his colleagues now act? When they condemned Ministers they pointed at the particular acts which juftified that condem nation. They never pronounced loofe and general cenfures. They never told the country that the Minifters they oppofed were not entitled to confidence without proving it; but the 5 N 2

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right honourable Gent! man never does meet the Ministers fairly, never oppofs them front to front; his mode of difcipline fems beft to qualify him for fquibs and skirmishes; his favourite plan of attack is on the flanks and rear of his adverfary. Is this the fyllem of tactics which the hon. Colonel would approve I would call upon the right hon. Gentleman to make his approaches more manfully. If he would confult the precedent of the old Oppofition, he would alter his prefent courfe tor one better adapted to recommend himself to the favour of the country and the deference of Parliament. I am glad, however, to perceive from the reference he has made to the old Oppofition, that he is refreshing his memory; that he is furbishing his arms, no doubt from an expectation, in which I hope he will not be disappointed, that he will have to ftand a very long campaign in Oppofition. If in this campaign he will endeavour to imitate the party have alluded to, he will protect himself and his friends from the charge of faction; he will not oppose measures because they come from a certain fet of men, and although the fame measures from other men would meet his moft cordial concurrence; he will not act upon fuch motives, and if not, his opinion and oppofition will become refpectable, and may have fome pretenfion to a comparifon with the old Oppofition, from which the right hon. Gentleman may perhaps think I have now a furlongh; but as to the comparison of the two Oppofitions under the prefent circumstances, it ftrikes me that the old Oppofition might addrefs that of the right honourable Gentleman in the fame terms as those ufed by the landlord who kept the fign of the Two Magpies at Hounslow, in his cifpute with another landlord who thought proper to put up the fame fign-" We are the real old magpies, and you have fet up your new oppofition through fpite:" [A general laugh.] The honourable Colonel in his affection and deference for the Prince of Wales, recommended that his Royal Highness thould be appointed to the command of the Lev en Maffe, as a place fuited to his rank and confequence. I would beg the Houfe to recollect that this is the army which the honourable Officer advised Minifters to diftribute into feowing parties, or to ftay in their refpective districts, to keep up a kind of irregular attack upon the enemy to fire from behind hedges or walls-from out of houfes, &c. Now mark the ftation the hon. Colonel would affign the illuftrious perfonage I have mentioned-he would fend his Royal Highness to take his place behind a tree,

to watch and direct flying fhooters, to conduct a mode of warfare that would refemble fomething like boar hunting. This is a part which I hope will never be affigned to the Prince of Wales; that we thall not call on him to stand behind a tree, or throw himself into a ditch when the enemy approaches. An honourable Friend of mine has stated in the courfe of his objections to the motion before the Houfe, that while the volunteers were drilling, they were laughed at by idle, worthlefs fpectators. This appears to me to be a very ftrong reafon in favour of this motion, for if the volunteers are laughed at by the profligate, let them have this honourable mark of your approbation to gratify their pride, to raise them above fuch fneers. The late Secretary at War has maintained in the courfe of this debate, and on other occafions, that our fituation was by no means fo dangerous at any period of the late war, as it is at prefent. To this affertion the noble Secretary of State has fo ably answered, that I think it unneceffary to fay much, but I infift that the perils of the country in the year 1798 were much fuperior to thofe by which we are now menaced; for at that time Ireland was actually invaded, a formidable infurrection prevailed, and had the whole of the French force which was fent to Ireland been able to effect a landing, or rather, perhaps, were it not for the treachery of Hoche, that country would have been fubdued. Then I contend that Ireland was faved by an accident; and if the 40,000 men which were permitted to go to Egypt had bent their courfe to Ireland, what, I would afk, could have been the fate of that country? In fuch a state of things, I maintain that Minifters are jus tified in charging the right honourable Gentleman with neglecting to refort to fuch meafures of vigour as he ought to have employed, and fuch as have been on the prefent occafion adopted. The right honourable Gentleman will not deny that he felt the extremity of panic at the fate of the nation in 1798, infomuch that he was heard to complain of the apathy of his colleagues; that they were not forward to adopt measures fufficiently fuited to the crisis. They were, to be fure, perfuaded to propofe a bill, which was paffed, in the preamble of which the alarming ftare of the country was acknowledged, and feveral military preparations prefcribed, which however were never executed, nor was the act in any of its provifions acted upon; but yet it was remarkable, that though clumfy and ineffectual, it contained the fame